Battle of Farnham

The Battle of Farnham was fought in 892 during the Viking invasions of England. The combined armies of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Lord Aldhelm of Mercia attacked Sigurd Bloodhair's Viking army from both sides at a hill near Farnham in Surrey, destroying Bloodhair's force and compelling Bloodhair to flee and gather more troops.

Background
The Viking chieftain Sigurd Bloodhair invaded Wessex in 892, razing the town of Alton in Hampshire. King Alfred the Great moved his army to the burh (fortified town) of Aescengum in the hopes of luring Sigurd into a foolish frontal assault on his army, leaving Winchester wide open to attack. However, Alfred's ealdorman Uhtred of Bebbanburg came up with a stratagem to lure Sigurd into battle. He brought out the captive seer Skade, Bloodhair's lover, and had her scream for him from the ramparts of the fortress. The next day, Bloodhair brought several female hostages from the nearby villages to the gates of Farnham and demanded Skade's release. He then began to slit the throats of the women, continuing to do so until Uhtred brought Skade out of the front gate. He repeatedly beat Skade as she demanded for Bloodhair to kill him, and Uhtred said that, if Bloodhair did not release his hostages by sundown, Skade would be stripped naked and enjoyed by every man at Aescengum. This angered Bloodhair, who retreated into the nearby woods with his men. Alfred had previously sent for help from the Mercians, requesting assistance, and Lord Aldhelm led an army to assist the West Saxons. Uhtred's right-hand man Finan the Agile rode out to meet them and brought them towards Farnham, the site of an intended ambush for the Vikings. Uhtred then decided to set a trap, in which he would leave the fortress and ride towards Farnham with Skade, compelling Bloodhair to pursue. Then, Alfred's army would pursue the Vikings at a distance, and the two Anglo-Saxon armies would attack Bloodhair's army from two sides.

Battle
At dusk, Uhtred and a few horsemen rode out of the burh with a carriage loaded with silver and a captive Skade, and Bloodhair's scouts told Bloodhair about the sighting of the troops leaving the fortress. Bloodhair led his men in pursuit of Uhtred's horsemen, who left behind the cart full of silver after it was stuck in the mud, briefly distracting the Vikings. Uhtred then arrived at the hill and waited until Finan arrived with Aldhelm's Mercian army. Uhtred's companions then joined the Mercians in forming a shield wall, and Bloodhair led a charge against the Mercians. Bloodhair killed several Mercian soldiers, but the Mercians held the line, and Alfred soon brought up his army behind the Vikings, forming another shield wall. Bloodhair took a horse and rode off despite a captive Skade's pleas for him not to abandon her, and he left his army to be destroyed by the Saxons.

Aftermath
Bloodhair survived the battle and secretly allied with Hastein, whom King Alfred still believed was at peace with him. Not long after the battle, Uhtred was proclaimed an outlaw after he accidentally killed Brother Godwin and refused to swear an oath to Alfred's son Edward the Elder, and he fled to his brother Ragnar Ragnarsson's fortress at Dunholm in Northymbre. Hastein and Bloodhair encamped at Bloodhair's base in Kent, where they were found by Aethelwold Aetheling, King Alfred's jealous nephew, who felt that Alfred had stolen his crown. Aethelwold advised them to ally with Ragnar Ragnarson and the outlawed Uhtred, so they headed to Dunholm and agreed to assemble a great Danish army to invade Wessex, as Alfred was suffering from poor health and the lack of his right-hand man Uhtred. However, Uhtred would abandon the army before it marched, and he eventually returned to the West Saxon side, making him the Vikings' enemy once more.